Graphics card comparison
Radeon HD 7970 vs Radeon R9 280X
AMD
Radeon HD 7970
3072 Mb GDDR5
Released 22 Dec 2011
DESKTOP
VS
AMD
Radeon R9 280X
3072 Mb GDDR5
Released 8 Oct 2013
DESKTOP
Summary
Synthetic performance index
- Radeon HD 7970100%
- Radeon R9 280X101%
Relative performance
Gaming performance index
- Radeon HD 7970100%
- Radeon R9 280X113%
Relative performance
Reasons to consider the Radeon HD 7970
- Supports Direct3D 12 Async Compute
- Supports ReLive (allows game streaming/recording with minimum performance penalty)
- Supports Mantle
- Based on an outdated architecture (AMD GCN), there may be no performance optimizations for current games and applications
Reasons to consider the Radeon R9 280X
- 13% higher gaming performance.
- This is a much newer product, it might have better long term support.
- Supports Direct3D 12 Async Compute
- Supports ReLive (allows game streaming/recording with minimum performance penalty)
- Supports Mantle
- Based on an outdated architecture (AMD GCN), there may be no performance optimizations for current games and applications
Our verdict
HWSpot recommends the Radeon R9 280X
The Radeon R9 280X is the better performing card based on the game benchmark suite used (8 combinations of games and resolutions).
Specifications
Core configuration
| Radeon HD 7970 | Radeon R9 280X |
|---|
| GPU Name | Tahiti (Tahiti XT) | Tahiti (Tahiti XTL) |
| Fab Process | 28 nm | 28 nm |
| Die Size | 352 mm² | 352 mm² |
| Transistors | 4,313 million | 4,313 million |
| Shaders | 2048 | 2048 |
| Compute Units | 32 | 32 |
| Core clock | 925 MHz | 850 MHz |
| ROPs | 32 | 32 |
| TMUs | 128 | 128 |
Memory configuration
| Radeon HD 7970 | Radeon R9 280X |
|---|
| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR5 |
| Bus Width | 384 bit | 384 bit |
| Memory Speed | 1375 MHz
5500 MHz effective | 1500 MHz
6000 MHz effective |
| Memory Size | 3072 Mb | 3072 Mb |
Additional details
| Radeon HD 7970 | Radeon R9 280X |
|---|
| TDP | 250 watts | 250 watts |
| Release Date | 22 Dec 2011 | 8 Oct 2013 |
Raw performance comparison
Pixel Rate
- Radeon HD 797029.60 GP/s
- Radeon R9 280X27.20 GP/s
GigaPixels - higher is better
Texel Rate
- Radeon HD 7970118.00 GT/s
- Radeon R9 280X109.00 GT/s
GigaTexels - higher is better
Memory bandwidth
- Radeon HD 7970264.00 GB/s
- Radeon R9 280X288.00 GB/s
GB/s - higher is better
Single precision performance
- Radeon HD 79703789.00 GFLOPs
- Radeon R9 280X3482.00 GFLOPs
GFLOPs - higher is better
Synthetic benchmarks
3DMark 11
- Radeon HD 797010760
- Radeon R9 280X10960
Points (higher is better)
Game benchmarks
Battlefield 4
DX11, Ultra Quality,2x MSAA,16x AF, HBAO
- Radeon HD 797067
- Radeon R9 280X72
FPS (higher is better)
Bioshock Infinite
DX11, Ultra Quality,DDOD, FX AA
- Radeon HD 797062
- Radeon R9 280X69
FPS (higher is better)
Crysis 3
DX11,Very High Quality, FXAA
- Radeon HD 797040
- Radeon R9 280X42
FPS (higher is better)
Medal Of Honor Warfighter
DX11, Ultra Quality, 4xMSAA
- Radeon HD 797060
- Radeon R9 280X67
FPS (higher is better)
Metro Last Light
DX11, AAA standard, 16xAF, Motion Blur normal, Tesselation normal
- Radeon HD 797043
- Radeon R9 280X50
FPS (higher is better)
Bioshock Infinite
DX11, Ultra, DDOD, FXAA
- Radeon HD 797039
- Radeon R9 280X48
FPS (higher is better)
Grand Theft Auto V
DX11, Max Details, 16:1 AF, 2xMSAA
- Radeon HD 797039
- Radeon R9 280X47
FPS (higher is better)
Grand Theft Auto V
DX11, Max Details, 16:1 AF, 2xMSAA
- Radeon HD 797054
- Radeon R9 280X63
FPS (higher is better)